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-F. E. WILSON.

FLYING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR- 27.1918.

1,315,586. Q PatentedSept. 9,1919.

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F. E. WILSON. FLYING MACHINE.

' APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27,1918- Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

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FLYING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR- 21. m

Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK E. WILSON, OF LANCASTER, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF CITE-HALF TO JOSIAH '1. ROSE,

OF LANCASTER, OHIO.

FLYING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

Application filed March 27, 1918. Serial No. 224,996.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knOWn that I, FRANK E. WILSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lancaster, in the county of Fairlield and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flying-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to air craft and has for its object the provision of a flying machine which may be made to rise rapidly and in a true vertical line. The invention also has for its object the provision of means whereby the machine may be driven forwardly or backwardly with equal ease and may be reversed in its direction of travel instantly. A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby the vertical propeller may be used independently of or simultaneously with the horizontal propellers and the speed and stability of the machine brought to the maximum degree of efliciency. Other incidental objects of the invention will appear as the description of the same proceeds.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a flying machine embodying my improvements;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view, the body being omitted and parts being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section; Fig. 4 is a detail view of a portion of the steering mechanism; I

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the same;

Fig. 6 is a detail View of on. of the rud-.

ders.

The body 1 of the machine may be of any desired or convenient form and is preferably in the form of a canoe having sharp ends and bottom. Suitably mounted upon the bottom of the body at the center of the same is an axle 2 having ground wheels 3 at its ends whereby the machine may be supported when not in flight, and it is within the scope of my invention to connect the axle to the motor by suitable gearing so that said wheels may be used as driving wheels to propel the" machine over the ground. To further aid in supporting and guiding the machine when not in flight or when traveling upon the ground, I provide the'end ground wheels which are carried by vertical spindles or shafts 5 mounted in suitable bearings in the 7 ends of the body and equipped below the body with rearwardly extending vanes 6 which serve as rudders so that the direction of movement of the machine may be controlled. The spindles or vertical shafts 5 are extended through and above the body and at their upper extremities carry rudders 7 which are braced by yokes or frames 8 secured to the spindles and to the rear edges of the rudders as clearly shown. At an intermediate point of its height, each spindle or vertical shaft is equipped with a beveled gear 9 which meshes with a beveled pinion 10 on the lower end of a steering shaft 11 which is mounted in suitable bearings upon the body of the machine, a convenient form of support being a yoke 12 shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The steering shaft 11 will extend upwardly to a point where it may be conveniently reached by the operator and is equipped with a steering wheel 13 at its upper extremity, as shown. It is sometimes desirable to hold the steering shaft in' a set position so as to hold the machine firmly to its course and, to this end, I provide a spur Wheel 14 upon the shaft which may be engaged by a dog 15 carried by the free ends of spring arms 16 which are secured in any convenient manner to the sides of the body 1, as will be readily understood.

' Within the body 1, I provide a deck 17 upon which are mountedfa plurality of engines 18,- there being three engines shown in the present illustrations. One of these engines is intended to operate the main vertical propeller 19, while each of the other engines .operates one horizontal propeller 20 and an end vertical propeller 21. The vertical propellers 19 and 21 are carried by shafts 22 and 23, respectively, which are supported in a beam or upper deck 24 extending longitudinally of the body and supported by the ends of the same, as shown in Fig. 1. Upon the underside of the beam or deck 24 is a frame 25 in which is mounted a train of gearing whereby the main vertical propeller 19'may be reversed in its direction of rotation without reversing the engine which drives the same so that the machine may be caused to rise quickly or may be aided in its descent as may be desired under circumstances. The shaft 22 terminates at its lower end within the housing or frame 25 and is equipped with a spur pinion 26 which may mesh with either one of a pair of gears 27 which are carried by shafts 28 disposed vertically and slidably mounted in the lower member of the frame 25, the lower ends of said shafts extending through the frame and being equipped with pinions 29 adapted to mesh with a gear 30 upon the upper end of the engine shaft 31. A gear 32 is secured upon the engine shaft 31 below the gear 30 for a purpose which will presently appear. The vertical shafts 28 are carried in collars or rings 33 at the ends of links 34 which extend to a cross-head 35 connected by a rod 36 to a lever 37 which is fulcrumed at its upper end upon the deck 24 and depends therefrom so that it may be easily reached and manipulated by an operator. The lever is equipped with a latch 38 of a well-known form so that it may be held in any set position. It will be readily understood that the motion of the engine shaft 31 is transmitted to the propeller shaft 22 through the gear 30 and one or the other pinion 29 and the cooperating gear 27 to the pinion 26 so that the propeller will r0- tate in'one or the other direction accordingly as one or the other lever 37 is thrown toward the center or the end of the machine and the gears connected with the lever thrown into or out of the active position.

To support the propeller shaft firmly in a true vertical position and reduce friction and wear upon the moving parts, the said shaft is provided above the upper deck 24 with a disk 39 within a housing 40 and bearing balls Or similar anti-friction elements 41 are interposed between the upper and lower sides of said disk and the upper and lower plates or ends of the housing, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and as will be readily understood.

The horizontal propellers 20 are carried by the outer ends of horizontally disposed shafts 42 which are supported in posts 43 erected on the main deck 17 and within a casing 44 supported at the ends of the body 1 and exteriorly of the same. Bearings 45, similar to the bearing provided by the members 39, 40, and 41 for the shaft 22, are provided for each horizontal shaft 42 and between the posts 43 a long spur pinion 46 is secured upon the said shaft. This spur pinion 46 is in mesh with a gear 47 secured upon a shaft 48 which is journaled in suitable bearings upon the posts 43 and is slidable longitudinally in said bearing. At its inner end. the shaft 48 is equipped with a gear consisting of a long cylindrical spur pinion 49 and a beveled pinion 50 at the inner end thereof, the beveled pinion meshing with the gear 32, while the cylindrical spur pinion 49 meshes with a spur wheel 51 on the end of the engine shaft 52 which performs the double functions of a driving wheel and a fly wheel. The outer end of the shaft 48 is connected with a hand lever 53 which is fulcrumed upon a suitable bracket 54 upon the adjacent post 43 and is equipped with a latch 55 of a well-known form whereby it may be held in a set position. It will be readily understood that by shifting the lever 53, the shaft 48 will be moved longitudinally in its bearings so that the pinion 50 will be moved into or out of mesh with the gear 32 and the vertical and horizontal propeller shafts thereby caused to operate together or independently. This arrangement of the gearing will be found advantageous in the event of any one engine becoming disabled as it will be thereby possible to utilize one engine to drive all the propellers so that the machine may continue and finish its flight in safety, while in normal conditions the several engines may be operated independently or simultaneously so that the full power of any engine may be transmitted to the propeller connected therewith. It will, of course, be understood that the propellers need not all be operated at the same time and it will sometimes be found desirable to operate the horizontal propellers alone, whereas in rising the vertical propeller may be operated alone. It will be understood that the train of gearing whereby the horizontal propeller is driven is duplicated at the two ends of the machine so that the description of the gearing, which has just been given, is to be understood as applying to both ends of the machine.

It will also be understood that a reversing gear of any well-known type may be inter posed in the operative connections between the horizontal propeller and the motor so that the direction of rotation of the propeller may be instantly reversed at will and the vessel consequently caused to sail in either direction as may be desired. The propeller may also be connected with its shaft'by any form of clutch controlled from the body of the machine so that the shaft may rotate without imparting motion to the propeller and the vertical propellers, therefore, operated without the horizontal propellers being necessarily operated. It is thus possible to rise directly and vertically by means of the vertical propeller or to rise in the usual manner by means of the horizontal propellers and the planes to be described.

The end or supplemental vertical propellers are driven from the horizontal propeller shafts 42 and the shafts 23 carrying said vertical propellers extend through bearings 56 of the same construction as the bearings 45. The lower ends of the shafts 23 extend into the housings 44 and carry beveled pinions 57 which may be engaged by either of a pair of beveled pinions 58 which are carried by a sleeve 59 slidably mounted upon the shaft 42 within the housing 44 but constrained to rotate with said shaft. The

sleeve 59 is provided with an annular groove 60 which is engaged by the arms of a yoke 61 carried by a rock shaft 62 journaled in the lower portion of the housing 44: and carrying a crank arm 63 at its outer end. The said crank arm 63 is pivotally connected to the outer end of a link 64 which extends through and into the body of the machine and is attached to a hand lever 65, whereby the sleeve 59'may be shifted longitudinally and held in a set position. It will be readily understood that by shifting the sleeve 59 longitudinally one or the other pinion 58 will be caused to mesh with the pinion 57 and, consequently, the shaft 23 and the propeller 21 carried thereby may be caused to rotate in either direction as may be desired. Moreover, by shifting the sleeve to a neutral position the propeller 21 may remain stationary.

By providing a plurality of vertical propellers 19 and 21, I am enabled to rise quickly when the machine is to make a flight and may rise directly from the ground in a true vertical line thereby avoiding a preliminary run upon the ground. After the machine has attained the desired elevation, the horizontal propellers are set in motion so that the machine may be caused to travel in the desired direction and by permitting the vertical propellers to continue to operate, the machine will be maintained upon an even keel and the use of planes as now commonly employed becomes unnecessary. To guard against emergencies, however, and to assist in maintaining flight, I erect upon the upper deck 24 a frame 66 which extends longitudinally of the machine both fore and aft of the central vertical propeller shaft 22 and extends laterally in both directions,-asshown in Fig. This frame may be of any convenient open construction and is braced-by struts 67 extending to a collar or bracket 68 disposed about the upper portion of the shaft 22'. Hinged to the frame are parallel plane sections 69 which extend longitudinally of the machine and are equidistant, the width of the sections being equal to the distance between two adjacent sections so that when the sections are fully closed they will form supporting planes co-extensive in area with the frames. Obviously, if the sections are fully open and depend vertically, as shown in the drawings, they will present no horizontal surface and offer no obstruction to either ascent or descent. To operate the plane sections so as to provide any desired area of supporting plane surface, the free ends of the sections are connected by links 70 to the inner ends of which are secured depending racks 71 meshing in turn with pinsame are crown wheels 74 which are rigid with sprockets 75 around which chains 76 are trained. The chains 7 6 are also trained around sprockets 77 equipped with handles 7 8 and locking dogs of any well-known type.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that I have provided an exceedingly simple and compact machine whereby a vertical ascent may be accomplished rapidly and with certainty and whereby the machine may be held stable in flight without the use of any ordinary wings or supporting planes. It is intended that the machine carry at least two operators so that each man may give his attention to the engine and the apparatus at his end of the car while either man may operate the middle engine which is designed to drive the vertical propeller, although, of course, they may be coordinated so as to be operable by one man. The machine will be found very desirable for use in-war as its body may be of such shape that it will not offer a large mark for the guns of an enemy and yet it will provide ample accommodation for a. competent crew. The shape of the body, moreover, will permit the machine to make a quick descent when necessary and aS it will be exceedingly stable in flight the occupants of the car may make observations or perform other services unhampered by the necessity of giving special attention to the driving of the car.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A flying machine comprising a body, a vertically disposed propeller sha t mounted upon the body, a plurality ofhorizontal shafts mounted upon the'body, propellers carried by each of said shafts, independent motors mounted upon the body, and gearing whereby the motors may be connected operatively, each with one of the propellers or all operatively connected with all the propellers.

2. In a flying machine, the combination of a body, an upper deck mounted within the body, a frame supported on the under side of said deck, a vertically disposed propeller shaft mounted in said deck and having its lower end disposed within said frame, a motor withinthe body, a shaft extending from said motor to said frame, a pinion upon the lower end of the propeller shaft, a gear upon the upper end of the motor shaft, gears disposed at the opposite sides of said shafts and supported slidably by said frame, and means mounted on said frame for shifting said gears toward or from the said shafts whereby to drive the propeller shaft in one or the other direction.

3. In a flying machine, the combination of a body, a frame projecting laterally therefrom, a plurality of parallel longitudinally extending plane sections hinged to said frame, connections between the free edges of the planes at one side of the frame, connections between the free edges of the plane sections at the opposite sides of the frame, oppositely disposed racks extending from the free edges of the innermost plane sections, rock shafts mounted on the body, pinions on said shafts meshing with said racks, and means on the body for actuating said shafts.

4. In a flying machine. the combination of a body containing a platform, a vertically disposed propeller shaft mounted in the up per portion of the body at the center of the same, horizontally disposed propeller shafts mounted in the ends of the body and projecting beyond the same, housings supported on the ends of the body, vertically disposed propeller shafts mounted inand rising from said housings and through the upper portions of the body, gearin whereby the last mentioned propeller shafts may be operatively connected with the respectively adjacent horizontal propeller shafts for rotation in either direction, a plurality of engines mounted on the platform, gearing whereby the first-mentioned vertical propeller shaft may be connected with one of the engines for rotation in either direction, gearing whereby the horizontal propeller shafts may each be connected with one of the engines, and gearing whereby all the engines may be connected with the first-mentioned vertical propeller shaft and the horizontally disposed propeller shafts.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

FRANK E. WILSON. [L. s.] 

